What has been used on one side, is lost on the other side. There's no going back.
A thrilling, gory, enthralling blend of Kubrick, John Carpenter's "The Thing" and Cronenberg's "The Fly", THE SUBSTANCE is a creature all its own.
I couldn't take my eyes off of the screen, even though Writer/Director Coralie Fargeat pummeled me with relentless visual assaults that almost beg you to avert your eyes.
Demi Moore (Disclosure, Ghost) gives arguably her best performance as fading actress, fitness guru Elisabeth Sparkle. In superb shape, Elisabeth accidentally overhears her gross, disgusting manager Harvey (Dennis Quaid, gnashing and relishing every moment) discarding her like a piece of trash. He's ready for a new, young girl to bring the sparkle.
Elisabeth receives a mysterious package at her gorgeous Beverly Hills apartment, offering an alternative to growing older.
How about a brand new you?
Younger, in perfect condition, at your sexual peak.
There is just one simple rule. Your new you and you, must trade places every seven days. Don't be late. Trade every seven days and keep a perfect balance.
What could go wrong?
Gloriously for us the viewer, plenty.
Margaret Qualley (Fosse/Verdon) is Sue, the perfect young version that splashes bloodily out of Elisabeth's back, her spine splitting like it's being carved open by a giant razor blade in a birth sequence that's flawless and jaw dropping. Don't worry, Sue's going to sew that up and you'll get to watch and hear every plunge of the curved hook as it pulls the thread through her flesh.
Harvey's looking for a new girl to take Elisabeth's place? Great! Sounds like Sue should audition.
What could go wrong?
Farageat is a student of film, conjuring up moments that feel like Kubrick's "The Shining" in their careful structure, but Kubrick was never this funny. Fringe characters deliver big laughs, perfectly timed to relieve the tension.
Sue's ambitious.
She's not what you'd call a rule follower.
I loved how Fargeat manages to create a world of rules that seem logical, that are easy to follow, yet easy to dismiss, with devastating consequences. So many times in M. Night Shyamalan's later films, I feel like there are 100lbs of character exposition explaining the rules. Not here.
A calm, mystery man on the other end of a phone number is happy to repeat them.
But remember, one of you can't break the rules and have the other one bitch about it. There's only one of you, trading places every 7 days.
Watch the calendar.
Moore offers up her bare soul and 61 year old naked body in a fearless performance that makes an incredible statement on aging, Hollywood and youth culture. Qualley matches her as a fascinating blend of sheer desire and voracious appetite, given a new chance to taste all the best things in life, in their prime.
Body image and horror have never been blended quite so effectively.
The finale explodes into an orgy of bloody pulp and sheer madness that feels like John Carpenter and Quentin Tarentino have remade a mashup of "The Thing" and a Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve special.
I laughed, I winced and I loved Farageat's absolute commitment to her final shot. It's an image so perfectly gross and compelling that it made me want to watch the whole bloody movie over again.
When she drops in the theme from Hitchcock's "Vertigo" in a perfect moment, I just let Bernard Herrmann's music wash over me, knowing I was in wet, visionary hands.
The music score by Raffertie is off-the-wall, entrancing and genre-bending, loaded with electronic shocks that pulse through the more traditional orchestral moments.
This is one of most in-your-face, visually shocking message films of the year.
Get ready for your first injection of THE SUBSTANCE. Once you start, I dare you to quit.
One of the wildest films of 2024, it gets a wound oozing, needle penetrating, blood dripping A and surely a spot in my Top Ten of 2024.
Comments